Media influence eating disorders

A new study shows a relationship between fashion magazine reading
and certain eating disorders, and television viewing and body
dissatisfaction. Researcher says the drive for thinness is a learned
behavior. Photo by Bob Kalmbach

By Bernie DeGroat
News and Information Services

While the appearance of waif-like models in the media may send a
dangerous message about eating disorders, general fitness and fashion
magazines and television shows with thin characters also play a key
role in influencing irregular eating patterns of young women, says
Kristen Harrison, assistant professor of communication studies.

"British model Kate Moss and other ultrathin cultural icons of
feminine beauty who have sparked much of this controversy may not be
uniquely dangerous," she says. "Instead, the overall emphasis on
feminine thinness exemplified by multiple media depic tions of
slender models and actresses should be considered for its possible
influence on disordered eating."

In a survey of 232 female undergraduate students at a large
Midwestern university in 1994, Harrison found that about 15 percent
of the women met criteria for disordered eating--signs of anorexia or
bulimia, body dissatisfaction, a drive for thinness, perfectionism
and a sense of personal ineffectiveness.

The study, which appeared recently in the Journal of
Communication, shows that magazine reading and television viewing,
especially exposure to thinness-depicting and thinness-promoting
media, significantly predict symptoms of women's eating disorders,
Harrison says.

According to the study, women who frequently read fitness
magazines for reasons other than interest in fitness and dieting
display greater signs of disordered eating than women who rarely read
them at all. Further, reading fashion magazines in parti cular is
significantly related to a woman's drive for thinness and her
dissatisfaction with her body, although magazine reading, in general,
has little effect on body dissatisfaction.

Harrison says that the relationship between mass media consumption
and symptoms of women's eating disorders appears to be stronger for
magazine reading than for television viewing. However, watching
"thin" shows is a consistent predictor of a woman's drive for
thinness and viewing "heavy" shows is significantly related to body
dissatisfaction.

Why does body dissatisfaction appear to be more strongly related
to television viewing than magazine reading, whereas drive for
thinness is more strongly related to magazine reading than television
viewing? Similarly, why is body dissatisfaction rela ted to viewing
"heavy" shows and not "thin" shows?

Harrison believes that the drive for thinness is a learned
behavior that sources such as magazines explain how to achieve (e.g.,
dieting and exercise). Body dissatisfaction, on the other hand, is
not associated with a particular action or behavior bu t is, instead,
a set of attitudes, not intentions.

In a related study using the same sample of women, Harrison found
that an interpersonal attraction to thin media personalities is
related to disordered eating above and beyond the influence of mere
exposure to media, even those that depict or promote thinness. She
defines interpersonal attraction as a perceived similarity to a
female celebrity, and a fondness for and a desire to be like the
famous woman.

"It seems clear that young women's patterns of disordered eating,
including both attitudinal and behavioral tendencies, are related not
only to the types of media they expose themselves to, but also to the
way they perceive and respond to specific mas s media characters,"
Harrison says. "This relationship may seem obvious to readers who are
concerned with this issue and openly acknowledge the possibility that
the media operate as transmitters of potentially dangerous socially
desirable values and norm s.

"Nonethless, it bears restating for the benefit of any members of
the research community and the general public who still believe media
messages to be largely ineffectual in the lives of young people."

Harrison's findings are reported in two separate studies: "The
Relationship Between Media Consumption and Eating Disorders,"
published in the Journal of Communication; and "Does
Interpersonal Attraction to Thin Media Personalities Promote Eati ng
Disorders?" published in the fall 1997 issue of the Journal of
Broadcasting & Electronic Media.